Wisconsin Tourism is a Big Deal

Wednesdays with Walker

Wisconsin
Tourism is a Big Deal

There
are a million ways to have fun in Wisconsin, and our state’s tourism industry
is booming.

Since we took office, tourism activity is up more than $5.2
billion, a 35% increase! On an annual basis, visitors generate over $1.5
billion in state and local revenue. Overall, Wisconsin’s healthy tourism
industry supports more than 193,000
jobs, with 21,500 new jobs created in the last six years alone.

Earlier this week, I joined Department of
Tourism Secretary Stephanie Klett at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism,
which draws tourism representatives from all 72 counties. While there, we
revealed our new summer and fall ad campaigns. Click on the video above to
check out one of the new spots!

People continue to “Travel Wisconsin” for its
natural beauty and family-friendly attractions, and they come back thanks to
the hardworking people that make up our state’s tourism industry.

Ensuring Quality
Education in Every Corner of the State

Every
Wisconsin student deserves access to a quality education, regardless of their
ZIP code.

That’s
why we signed AB 835 into law this week, investing additional resources into
our rural schools to help them address their unique challenges.

The bill increases the per-pupil sparsity amount from $300 to $400
beginning in fiscal year 2018-19 and will benefit an estimated 144 school
districts across the state. This comes on top of our historic investments in
K-12 education in this budget. Funding for K-12 education is at an all-time
high in actual dollars.

This
money will help teachers put more resources overwhelmingly into the classroom,
improve student success, and ultimately build a stronger workforce here in
Wisconsin.

Trauma-Informed
Care, Everyone Has a Role to Play

This
week, we proclaimed May 2018 as Trauma-Informed Care Awareness Month and May
22, 2018, as Trauma-Informed Care Day across Wisconsin.

Trauma-Informed
Care shifts perspectives from blaming people for their problems to using the
science of ACEs to guide support and the creation of new policies and
practices. Thanks to the efforts of First Lady Tonnete Walker, we have been
working to promote Trauma-Informed Care for years in Wisconsin and across the
country.

Together, we can help make it easier to recognize, understand, and
address the effects of trauma on the lives of children and their families.
Because everyone truly has a role to play.